2011 - It's Been a Great Year!

     Del Mar Ocean Tides (16 x 20 inches)

I like to figure things out as I go along and though I read as much as possible to try to figure out how to do what I want with my paintings, some things just do not work out.  My intention was to create a quiet, broody ocean scene. It started out with an acrylic coppery wash and then the basic shapes were penciled in with light colored pencil.  Using an Icaraus board, layers of colored pencils, in mostly muted greys, beiges, and blues, were layed on top and burnished using the heat and a blending stick.  Although I am happy with the effect of the green seaweed moss covering the rocks and the pools of water by the rocks, the rest of the painting is so so. Perhaps the composition is too horizontal and needed some vertical elements to liven it up.  The painting was then mounted to a clayboard with double tack, and I didn't do such a good job on a piece with so much time devoted to it. Needless to say, I know exactly what will be changed when I make another attempt.
  

After such a labor intensive piece, I needed a break and busied myself with all kinds of different mail art (a form of art play for me)  for the Secret Santa exchange and for two very different artists.  For one artist, who likes very unique and artful types of Madonna icons, I painted a Chrysanthemum Madonna on watercolor paper, using watercolors and gold acrylics.  It too, was mounted on clayboard with double tack very successfully and the sides were painted using gold mixed with a bit of prussian blue.  I made a CD collectioin of eclectic angel songs since she didn't want any atcs or treats, and painted an angel cover. I also made an outline of my hand with the lotus blossoms looking out across a starry sky.  On the back are the words to the song "Across the Universe" sung by John Lennon.  My other Secret Santa artist likes gothic things and is very creative in many media.  With goth, I conjure Anne Rice novels, the city of New Orleans, funny SNL skits but it's not really not something I'm especially adept at, though I admire it.  It was, however, a wonderful opportunity to try something new. So I got out my needles, thread, and sewing machine and made a gothic punk doll.  This artist also collects themed 4X4 chunkies and I settled on the lovely theme of green and painted watercolors of orchids and lovebirds. I included an elephant brooch made in copper and beading and attached it to the Flip Flop Album all handmade. It was a lot of fun, and I received some fantastic art as well.   Here were my art present offerings:




Chrysanthemum Madonna (8x10")

 

   



Lovebirds (4x4")



Green Orchids (4x4")

"Jai Guru Deva" Hand Outline



Gothic Punk Doll



Butterfly Flip Flop Album




Elephant Flip Flop Album



Butterfly Flip Flop Album opened


Even though I didn't exactly do 12 paintings for each month of the year (11 total), with all the Secret Santas and other ATC art completed and not shown here, I fulfilled my 2011 New Year's resolution very well.  
I received wonderful news from "The Artist" Magazine online competition that my koi fish painting "Reflections" won Honorable Mention!  I think it will be posted online next month and will have a link to it in my next post. It also won the same award at the Foothills Wildlife in Art 2012 last month.  "Orchid" and "Peacock" were both in a juried show this month at the Poway Center of Arts and that pretty much sums up 2011 for my artistic endeavors.   Now it's time to think about what I'd like to accomplish for 2012.  Happy New Year's to you all!

End of November

I'm currently painting the cradle-sides of the 18 X 24 claybord in copper acrylic and, afterwards, this piece will be mounted using double-tac and then completely varnished.  I wanted to do a painting using mixed- media with an acrylic-copper wash underneath and colored pencils using heavy-duty burnishing on the Icarus board and I think it came out pretty good.  This locale is another San Diego hot spot, but unlike the festive, happy,warm and colorful "El Jardin Hermoso" depicting the succulent garden of Old Town, this is a quiet almost broody beach scene with the low flat tides exposing sea-moss covered rocks of Del Mar beach.  I really like the contrast of the copper against the green moss and the blue-grey sea.  The composition, though mostly horizontal, was made more visually interesting with the ocean churning with white patterned froth dancing on the surface of the waves and a crucifix pattern of the rocks on the beach leading into the submerged rocks.  This is the biggest painting I've done in colored pencils and with it, I'd like to do a companion piece, a bit smaller, of rocks trapped in tide pools with a bit of sea kelp framing the pool. 
This is the only piece I have to show here for November, but I have been very busy.  My painting "Reflections" won an honorary award this month at the Wildlife in Art 2012 show at the Foothills Gallery in La Mesa.  Tomorrow, I drop off both "Peacock" and "Orchid" for the Ramona Art Guild show held at the Poway Center of the Arts.  This will definitely be my last show for the year. Last year, my New Year's resolution was to do a painting a month and to attempt to enter at least 12 shows for the entire year.  I was successful in being in more than 12 shows this year, but I'm one painting off my mark.  There's still one more month to go and I plan to work on the Sketchbook Project 2012 with the theme "It's Winter There".  For the past couple of weeks, I was making Secret Santa art gifts for two mail artist recipients.  I always bite my nails whether it be an experiment like this Del Mar ocean painting, or making arts/crafts for another artist.  One never knows if it will turn out or if the recipient will even like it.  Although I doubt my Secret Santas visit my blog, to be safe - I'll post photos of everything after Christmas.   
Well, tomorrow comes the last day of my birthday month and what a month I've had! One of the most wonderful day of the month was spending it with Nancy Conney at her "Sky Hunters" birds-of-prey sanctuary in Alpine ( http://www.skyhunters.org/ ).  She takes care of injured birds, educates people/students on birds-of-prey, and is just an all around lovely person! Her large beautiful home is filled to the brim with all kinds of birds-of-prey art and collectibles. But the treasures were the birds themselves.  Some, are her's forever since they cannot be set free which includes a beautiful bald eagle and a brown eagle.  I have a lot of pictures and I'm sure at least one of them will be an inspiration for a painting.

October Fun

 A couple of weeks ago, I took a colored pencil workshop with Betsy Holster along with other colored pencil artists at Marina Village.  She spoke about your own "personal voice" and what it is you're trying to say in art and whether you are a conceptual artist or a technical artist.  She also spoke about setting up problems for yourself and experimenting.  Some of the questions she wanted us to answer for ourselves  also included how we would like our art to grow, do we know our limitations or what is holding us back.  Things that may have us stuck in a rut.  I find that colored pencils are a challenge in creating pieces that are emotional and expressive. Colored pencils tend to be very rigid but I enjoy working with them.  They are not as easy to use as watercolors or acrylic painting.
My new painting is an experiment in that it's a much larger piece, 18 x 24 inches, on 140lb coldpress watercolor paper.  Several acrylic copper washes have been applied and then I lightly laid in the general shapes of a ocean scene of Del Mar.  My reference photo was taken at dusk and the exposed rocks are covered in a seaweed moss at low tide. In painting, expecially in oils, I always loved putting in a color wash and then painting over it with some of the undercolor wash peeking through.  This is exactly what I'de like to accomplish with this ocean scene with coppery bits peeking out here and there and giving an overall warm feeling to the cool ocean scene.  Although my pictures aren't edited below, the painting is coming along nicely so far.  There's a wrinkle problem in the paper I hope to take care of once I mount it on to clayboard.

I had the pleasure of being in a few shows last month with  "Urban Tales" in El Cajon with my painting "Sakura" which was juried by a curator from SDMA, in El Cajon.  It was thrilling to be invited to the "COVA Invitational" held at San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park.  The colored pencil artist group gave a great show, I was very proud of us all. And finally, I was accepted into the November "Wildlife in Art" show for 2012 with my painting "Reflections".  Maybe it's because I've been sick with the flu, but I think that will be it for this year. I'll continue with my colored pencil landscape pieces, come up with some ideas for watercolor/acrylic paintings, and, especially,  finish up my Secret Santa mail art gifts.  I've finished with one artist and am crossing my fingers on her hoping she'll like what I've done.  The other artist is more of a challenge, but I have some ideas.  I think I'm going to have to be a little more crafty with her and am crossing my fingers that I can pull it all off.

El Jardin Hermoso

Taking a little break from painting, I did my own experimental colored pencil piece of a garden area in Old Town, San Diego.  It's a lovely little succulent garden just across from the water fountain before entering the large patio area where all the gift shops are as well as the Mexican restaurant with the huge margaritas.  This is a much larger piece in this medium than what I normally do and it's done on coldpress watercolor paper.  I painted a light wash for some of the plants as an undercoat.  On top of that are many layers of colored pencils that have been blended and burnished.  When it was in the first stage, I got a call from the San Diego CPSA President asking if I would like to join 8 other artists for the COVA Invitational to be held at the San Diego Art Institute next Oct.  It was August 26th and I had to have it completed and framed to turn it in by the 16th!  This highly detailed and stylized piece is all I've been working on everyday except for those socializing days which are so necessary - can never neglect friends and fun!  I finished it the night before and I used another painting's frame with the mat which suited it perfectly.  I had originally intended to submit it to the "Explore This" for the experimental online show and wanted to frame it as if it were a painting which means mounting it onto clayboard and putting a wooden frame around it.  I'm still thinking about all the particulars of this, but meanwhile, I did get the painting to the venue on time.  Now it's a matter of waiting to see if it gets chosen.  There are about 4 other art organizations that were invited along with CPSA and it's a wonderful opportunity.  I downloaded a "Learn Spanish" app onto my iPad in my quest to learn Spanish and with this piece looking like a Frida Khalo garden, I thought the title should be Spanish, hence the name El Jardin Hermoso meaning the beautiful garden.  I was too busy tring to complete this painting to stop and photograph the different stages since the beginning wash photo and the final photo.

I don't understand the snobbism with colored pencils being the bottom medium when it comes to oils, watercolor paintings, and even pastels.  I was wondering if it's because of it's durability throughout time.  The technical effort put into colored pencil painting is so intense and time consuming.  I like to work in all medioums, but I definitely have to say that it takes a great deal of time and patience when using colored pencils.

So in the interim, I'm still quite busy with mail art even though I intended to slow down a bit.  I have a self-portrait swap and I can be very experimental with that.  Then I have Secret Santas which is great fun and it's with these pieces that I'll be trying to do the experimental framing with double tack onto clay board.


  

Between Sisters

Between Sisters

This month, I took a little break from watercolors and acrylics to work with my new Faber-Castell colored pencils I received as a Christmas present.  Colored pencils seem to not get as much respect in the art world as a painting done in oils, watercolors, or acrylics,  but the medium is just as creative, imaginative as well as extremely labor intensive. I fell in love with a photo of my husband's aunt's  twin great-granddaughters,  Aniston & Mia, who are gazing lovingly at each other and seem to be communicating in their own special language.  There's all kinds of textures going on: weathered wood with paint peeling on the house wall behind them, the furry vest's they are wearing contrasting with the silk ribbon ties, the adorable fluffy soft feather & stone headdresses,  as well as the beautiful baby girls themselves.  I did the underlay of values in ultramarine blue and then finished by putting in the color. Nothing else was added, no Icarus board, burnishing, erasing or other cool techniques, just the colored pencils themselves. The girls cheeks are much more subtle in the original drawing/painting, it's just my lousy photo taking and editing capabilies that is making their cheeks look a little more rosy. I hope to enter this in the SD Colored Pencil Society's show "Pencil Us In" at the Sierra Mesa Library gallery next September.

After taking Carlo O'Connor's workshop a few weeks ago, I've been studying the photo of the twins more and trying to see how I might paint it using some of the elements of design I learned from Carla.  Alphonse Mucha sure knew how to add design elements to his figures as did Klimt and Egon Schiele. Using them and Carla as inspiration, I would very much like to be able to paint portraits and figures along this line. 

On that note, I would also like to begin doing portraits of sisters as a series and as something I can give to those who would love it!

Pretty Girl



Pretty Girl 

This is my dog, Roxy and although she looks quite regal, she is in fact a goofball who gets her way by being extremely smart, joyful and loving.  After drawing and painting many pet portraits, I've been meaning to do a painting of my own pet and finally did!  In this portrait, it's fall and she's sitting in the shade of a mock pear tree in our front lawn and it looks like she's expecting a walk or some fun play.
Last month, I had very exciting time - the "Orchid" painting took 1st place in the San Diego Del Mar Fair in the acrylics Still Life/ Representational division. There was a very strong showing of many beautiful paintings there and it was such an honor to win this award and I'm still walking on Cloud Nine.      
Currently, I'm on an art break and gathering up supplies in anticipation of the workshop I'll be taking all next week.  The artist giving this month's workshop is Carla O'Connor and I'm so hoping to  learn how to make my portraits as magical as her incredible paintings.  I've heard from other artists that it's a very intensive workshop experience that will thoroughly challenge one - just what I want!  Some of the items we are to bring is a "failed" painting which horrifies me, and also a current painting as well as all the art supplies.  Along with watercolor/acrylics, I'll be using gouache, conte crayon, charcoal, and other drawing media in a combination thereof. I've only use a few mediums together, but not all listed. For the past week it's been pretty muggy here.  It feels more like Hot 'Lanta than San Diego and is not very conducive to painting much less anything else.  I can't imagine what it must be like for the rest of the US.  Next week, the humidity is suppose to ease off - perfect for painting!  Keep those iced drinks going and stay cool!

Reflections

Last year, I gave my husband a compact underwater camera last Father's Day and on Mother's Day this year, we went to Balboa Park and took these cool underwater photos of the Koi pond in front of the Botanical Gardens. Many were very intrigued with my husband dipping the camera underwater and snapping up photos. And the photos came out wonderful even though he was kind of in the blind. He lured the fish to his fingers and watched them from above before snapping the picture. Even better, I rarely open my eyes underwater and these photos were incredible with the fish appearing right up front as if flying by you as well as the wonderful surface reflection at the top.

In the reference photo, the middle fish did have it's tail torn off and I didn't alter it in order to show the cute orange fish in the background who also contributes with the overall design & flow of the composition. The fish also had its faced obscured by another little orange fish and I had to eliminate it and create a new face. I enjoyed improvising all the fish, the negative space, the water, rocks on the bottom, and especially the surface light reflections. I'll be entering that into the San Diego Watercolor July show "Finding the Light" later this June.

"Orchid" was juried into the fine art show at the San Diego Del Mar Fair and tomorrow evening is the the reception and awards show. Since the early 70s, I've been going to the fair especially to see the fine arts show and I'm so excited to have my first painting be included this year!